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The Very Past

2900 BC

Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi, whom the Chinese credit with bringing civilization to China, seems to have made reference to Ma, the Chinese word for Cannabis, noting that Cannabis was very popular medicine that possessed both yin and yang.

The Very Past

"According to Chinese legend, the emperor Shen Nung (circa 2700 BC; also known as Chen Nung) [considered the Father of Chinese medicine] discovered marijuana's healing properties as well as those of two other mainstays of Chinese herbal medicine, ginseng and ephedra."

The Very Past

1500 BC

Earliest Written Reference to Medical Marijuana in Chinese Pharmacopeia

"The use of cannabis for purposes of healing predates recorded history. The earliest written reference is found in the 15th century BC Chinese Pharmacopeia, the Rh-Ya."

The Very Past

1450 BC

Book of Exodus References Holy Anointing Oil Made from Cannabis

"Holy anointing oil, as described in the original Hebrew version of the recipe in Exodus (30:22-23), contained over six pounds of kaneh-bosem, a substance identified by respected etymologists, linguists, anthropologists, botanists and other researchers as cannabis, extracted into about six quarts of olive oil, along with a variety of other fragrant herbs. The ancient anointed ones were literally drenched in this potent mixture.“

The Very Past

1213 BC

Egyptians Use Cannabis for Glaucoma, Inflammation, and Enemas

Cannabis pollen is found on the mummy of Ramesses II, who died in 1213 BC. Prescriptions for cannabis in Ancient Egypt include treatment for the eyes (glaucoma), inflammation, and cooling the uterus, as well as administering enemas

1000 BC

Bhang, a Drink of Cannabis and Milk, Is Used in India as an Anesthetic

Bhang, a cannabis drink generally mixed with milk, is used as an anesthetic and anti-phlegmatic in India. Cannabis begins to be used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies.

The Very Past

700 BC

Medical Use of Marijuana in the Middle East Recorded in the Venidad

"The Venidad, one of the volumes of the Zend-Avesta, the ancient Persian religious text written around the seventh century BC purportedly by Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), the founder of Zoroastrianism, and heavily influenced by the Vedas, mentions bhang and lists cannabis as the most important of 10,000 medicinal plants."

The Very Past

600 BC

Indian Medicine Treatise Cites Cannabis as a Cure for Leprosy

"Cannabis was used in India in very early medical applications. People believed it could quicken the mind, prolong life, improve judgment, lower fevers, induce sleep and cure dysentery... The first major work to lay out the uses of cannabis in [Indian] medicine was the Ayurvedic [a system of Indian medicine] treatise of Sushruta Samhita written in 600 BC... Within the Sushrita, cannabis is cited as an anti-phlegmatic and a cure for leprosy."

200 BC

Medical Cannabis Used in Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece, cannabis is used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation.

The Very Past

1 AD

"In a compendium of drug recipes compiled in 1 AD [Pen Ts'ao Ching], based on traditions from the time of Shen Nung, marijuana is depicted as an ideogram [pictorial symbol] of plants drying in a shed. This ancient text... recommends marijuana for more than 100 ailments, including gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absentmindedness."

The Very Past

30 AD

Jesus Allegedly Uses Anointing Oil Made with Cannabis

"In the Bible’s New Testament, Jesus... anointed [his disciples] with [a] potent entheogenic [psychoactive substance] oil, sending out the 12 apostles to do the same [around the year 30 AD]... Likewise, after Jesus' passing, James suggests that anyone of the Christian community who was sick should call to the elders to anoint him with oil in the name of Jesus..."

Continued…………….

The Very Past

30 AD …continued or Did Jesus Use…?

"So, did Jesus use cannabis? I think so. The word Christ does mean 'the anointed one' and Bennett contends that Christ was anointed with chrism, a cannabis-based oil, that caused his spiritual visions. The ancient recipe for this oil, recorded in Exodus, included over 9lb of flowering cannabis tops (known as kaneh-bosem in Hebrew), extracted into a hin (about 11? pints) of olive oil, with a variety of other herbs and spices. The mixture was used in anointing and fumigations that, significantly, allowed the priests and prophets to see and speak with Yahweh.

Residues of cannabis, moreover, have been detected in vessels from Judea and Egypt in a context indicating its medicinal, as well as visionary, use. Jesus is described by the apostle Mark as casting out demons and healing by the use of this holy chrism. Earlier, from the time of Moses until the later prophet Samuel, holy anointing oil was used by the shamanic Levite priesthood to receive the 'revelations of the Lord'. The chosen ones were drenched in this potent cannabis oil.

The Very Past

"Marijuana proponents suggest that the recipe for the anointing oil passed from God to Moses included cannabis, or kaneh-bosm in Hebrew. They point to versions calling for fragrant cane, which they say was mistakenly changed to the plant calamus in the King James version of the Bible."

The Very Past

"Pedanius Dioscorides (circa AD 40-90), a Greek physician who was a Roman army doctor and traveled widely on campaigns throughout the Roman empire, studied many plants, gathering his knowledge into a book he titled De Materia Medica (On Medical Matters).

Chinese surgeon Hua T'o performed surgeries such as "organ grafts, resectioning of intestines, laparotomies (incisions into the loin), and thoracotomies (incisions into the chest)... rendered painless by means of ma-yo, an anaesthetic made from cannabis resin and wine."

The Very Past

800 - 900

Cannabis Used as Medicine in Arabic World by Some, Labeled "Lethal Poison" by Others

"Cannabis was used medicinally across the Arabic world in Roman times, applied to a wide variety of ailments (from migraines to syphilis) and as an analgesic and anaesthetic. The great ninth-century Islamic physician Rhazès... prescribed it widely; a contemporary, the Arab physician Ibn Wahshiyah, warned of the potential effects of hashish which he wrote was a lethal poison."

1500

Muslim Doctors Use Marijuana to Reduce Sexuality

"After the 1500s, once Islam spread to India, Moslem doctors used the Persian theories to guide their use of cannabis. Their applications tended to stress the late effects, rather than the early ones, so they used it, for instance, as a means of reducing sexuality rather than increasing it.

The Very Past

1538

Hemp Used During Middle Ages

"During the Middle Ages, hemp was central to any herbalist's medicine cabinet. William Turner, the naturalist considered the first English botanist, praises it in his New Herball, published in 1538."

1578

Chinese Medical Text Describes Medical Uses for Marijuana

"A Chinese medical text (1578 AD) [Bencao Gangmu Materia Medica, by Li Shizhen] describes the use of marijuana to treat vomiting, parasitic infections, and hemorrhage. Marijuana continues to be used in China as a folk remedy for diarrhea and dysentery and to stimulate to appetite."

The Past

The Past

Jamestown Settlers Bring Marijuana to North America

"The Jamestown settlers brought the marijuana plant, commonly known as hemp, to North America in 1611, and throughout the colonial period, hemp fiber was an important export. Indeed, in 1762, 'Virginia awarded bounties for hemp culture and manufacture, and imposed penalties on those who did not produce it.'"

1611-1762

“Marry my daughter young adventurer and receive 10,000 pounds of Marijuana as a dowry.”

The Past

Popular English Mental Health Book Recommends Cannabis to Treat Depression

English Clergyman and Oxford scholar Robert Burton suggests cannabis as a treatment for depression in his influential and still popular 1621 book The Anatomy of Melancholy

1621

1652

Herbalist Nicholas Culpeper Writes about Medical Uses for Hemp

"The great British herbalist Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654) wrote in his [1652] The English Physitian (sic) that hemp extract 'allayeth Inflammations in the Head … eases the pains of the Gout … Knots in the Joynts, [and] the pains of the Sinews and Hips'. Culpeper's preparation probably had little psychoactivity as native cannabis grown in northern latitudes has relatively low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content."

The Past

1745 -1775

George Washington Grows Hemp

"[George] Washington's diary entries indicate that he grew hemp at Mount Vernon, his plantation, for about 30 years [approximately 1745-1775]. According to his agricultural ledgers, he had a particular interest in the medicinal use of Cannabis, and several of his diary entries indicate that he indeed was growing Cannabis with a high Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content - marijuana.

Thomas Jefferson did grow hemp [as noted in his farming diaries from 1774-1824], but there is no evidence to suggest that Jefferson was a habitual smoker of hemp, tobacco, or any other substance. Some have pointed to a supposed reference in Jefferson's Farm Book to separating male and female hemp plants as evidence that he was cultivating it for purposes of recreational smoking; no such reference exists in Jefferson's Farm Book or any other document, although George Washington did record such a thing in his own diary..."

The Past

1799

Napoleon's Forces Bring Marijuana from Egypt to France

Napoleon invades Egypt with forces that include a scientific expedition team. In addition to discovering the Rosetta Stone, the team brings cannabis back to France in 1799. The cannabis was investigated for its pain relieving and sedative effects in Europe and became more widely accepted in Western medicine. tation, for about 30 years [approximately 1745-1775]. According to his agricultural ledgers, he had a particular interest in the medicinal use of Cannabis, and several of his diary entries indicate that he indeed was growing Cannabis with a high Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content - marijuana.

The Royal Past

1840

Medical Marijuana Comes to United Kingdom via William O'Shaughnessy and Reportedly Used by Queen Victoria for Menstrual Cramps

"Cannabis was reintroduced into British medicine in 1842 by Dr. W[illiam] O'Shaughnessy, an army surgeon who had served in India. In Victorian times it was widely used for a variety of ailments, including muscle spasms, menstrual cramps, rheumatism, and the convulsions of tetanus, rabies and epilepsy; it was also used to promote uterine contractions in childbirth, and as a sedative to induce sleep. It is said to have been used by Queen Victoria against period pains: there is no actual proof of this at all, but Sir Robert Russell, for many years her personal physician, wrote extensively on cannabis, recommending it for use in dysmenorrhoea [menstrual cramps]. It was administered by mouth, not by smoking, but usually in the form of a tincture (an extract in alcohol). Cannabis extracts were also incorporated in many different proprietary medicines."

"In the 19th Century, marijuana emerged as a mainstream medicine in the West. Studies in the 1840s by a French doctor by the name of Jacques-Joseph Moreau [a French psychiatrist] found that marijuana suppressed headaches, increased appetites, and aided people to sleep."

The Past

1850

Marijuana Added to US Pharmacopeia

"By 1850, marijuana had made its way into the United States Pharmacopeia [an official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the counter medicines], which listed marijuana as treatment for numerous afflictions, including: neuralgia, tetanus, typhus, cholera, rabies, dysentery, alcoholism, opiate addiction, anthrax, leprosy, incontinence, gout, convulsive disorders, tonsillitis, insanity, excessive menstrual bleeding, and uterine bleeding, among others. Patented marijuana tinctures were sold..."

The Past

1889

Article in The Lancet Outlines Use of Cannabis for Opium Withdrawal

"In 1889, an article by Dr. E. A. Birch in The Lancet, then as now one of the world's leading medical journals, outlined the application of cannabis for the treatment of opium and chloral hydrate withdrawal symptoms: the mixture reduced the opium craving and acted as an anti-emetic [drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea]."

The Past

1893 - 1894

Indian Hemp Commission Mentions Several Medical Uses of Cannabis

"Concern about cannabis as an intoxicant leads the government of India to establish the Indian Hemp Commission of 1893-1894 to examine the question of cannabis use in India." The report mentions the use of cannabis as an "analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic [to induce contractions], and an antidiaretic." Cannabis is also "mentioned as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, swelling of the testicles, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis are prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention."

The Past

1900

Cannabis Used for Asthma, Bronchitis, & Loss of Appetite in South Asia

"Cannabis was one of the more important drugs in the Indian Materia Medica at the turn of the century. It was, and still is, widely used in rural areas of the Indian subcontinent [South Asia] for asthma, bronchitis and loss of appetite.

"On 30 June 1906 President Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act, known simply as the Wiley Act... The basis of the law rested on the regulation of product labeling rather than pre-market approval."

Label for Piso's Cure, a cannabis-based medicine, after the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug ActSource: antiquecannabisbook.com (accessed Dec. 12, 2011)

The Past

1911

Massachusetts Becomes First State to Outlaw Cannabis

"Bolstered by Progressive Era faith in big government, the 1910s marked a high tide of prohibitionist sentiment in America. In 1914 and 1916, alcohol prohibition initiatives would make the state ballot. Meanwhile, the legislature was tackling such morals issues as prostitution, racetrack gambling, prizefighting, liquor, and oral sex. Amidst this profusion of vices, Indian hemp [aka cannabis] was but a minor afterthought… states banned cannabis in the 1910s: Massachusetts in 1911 (150 KB); Maine, Wyoming and Indiana in 1913; New York City in 1914; Utah and Vermont in 1915; Colorado and Nevada in 1917. As in California, these laws were passed not due to any widespread use or concern about cannabis, but as regulatory initiatives to discourage future use."

President Woodrow Wilson signed all three of Harrison's measures into law by Jan. 1915.

The Harrison Act, as the final proposal was known, required every physician who prescribed opium or any of its derivatives to put a serial number, which could only be obtained from the Internal Revenue Department, on each prescription... Every doctor who wished to prescribe narcotics was required to register annually with the federal government."Although it does not apply to marijuana, the Harrison Act becomes the model for drug regulation on the federal level and is considered the basis for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937

"Up to World War I, pharmaceutical supplies of cannabis indica were entirely imported from India (and occasionally Madagascar), in accordance with the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, which specified that it come from flowering tops of the Indian variety...

Finally, in 1913, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry announced it had succeeded in growing domestic cannabis of equal quality to the Indian. When foreign supplies were interrupted by World War I, the United States became self-sufficient in cannabis. By 1918, some 60,000 pounds were being produced annually, all from pharmaceutical farms east of the Mississippi."

The Past

1925

League of Nations Sign Multilateral Treaty Restricting Cannabis Use to Scientific and Medical Only

At the Second Opium Conference and the International Opium Convention, sponsored by the League of Nations and signed in Geneva on Feb. 19, 1925, Egypt proposes that hashish (cannabis resin) be added to the list of narcotics covered by the convention.

The convention authorizes the use of "Indian hemp" (cannabis) only for scientific and medical purposes. Restrictions on importing and exporting cannabis resin are put into place.

This convention is the first multilateral treaty that deals with cannabis.

1928

Cannabis Added to the UK's "Dangerous Drugs Act"

Cannabis is added to the list of prohibited drugs in the UK's "Dangerous Drugs Act in 1928." Cocaine was added in 1920.

The Past

1930’s

Use of the Word "Marijuana" Increases in the US

“The currency of the word [marijuana] increased greatly in the United States in the 1930s in the context of the debate over the use of the drug, the term being preferred as a more exotic alternative to the familiar words hemp and cannabis... Influence of a folk etymology from the Spanish personal name María-Juana or its familiar form Mari-Juana has frequently been suggested; if so this would appear to have occurred within English."

American Pharmaceutical Firms Sell Extracts of Marijuana as Medicines

"As demand for marijuana-based medications accelerated, pharmaceutical firms attempted to produce consistently potent and reliable drugs from hemp. By the 1930s at least two American companies – Parke-Davis and Eli Lily – were selling standardized extracts of marijuana for use as an analgesic, an antispasmodic and sedative. Another manufacturer, Grimault & Company, marketed marijuana cigarettes as a remedy for asthma."

The Past

1930’s continued.

1930 - Harry J. Anslinger Appointed Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

“…in 1930 Harry Anslinger emerges as the pivot around whom marihuana legislation swings. He represents the most extreme reaction against marihuana use... Anslinger joined the Treasury Department in 1926 and by 1929 was Assistant Commissioner of Prohibition... [He was promoted] to the head of the Narcotics Bureau in 1930..."

1933 - William Randolph Hearst Plays Role in Denouncing Marijuana

“In 1933, marijuana became the target of government control. Sensationalistic stories linked violent acts to cannabis consumption... Many of the most outlandish stories appeared in newspapers published by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst reportedly had financial interests in the lumber and paper industries. He may have sought to eliminate competition from hemp."Mitchell Earleywine, PhDUnderstanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence, 2005

Continued…………….

The Past

1930’s continued.

Hearst Continued…………….

"The first laws against cannabis in the United States were passed in border towns with Mexico... William Randolph Hearst was an up-and-coming newspaper tycoon, owning twenty-eight newspapers by the mid-1920s... Hearst then dropped the words cannabis and hemp from his newspapers and began a propaganda campaign against 'marijuana,' (following in Anslinger's footsteps)..."

The Past

1936

New Medications Supplant Marijuana as Treatment for Pain

"By the end of 1936... all 48 states had enacted laws to regulate marijuana. Its decline in medicine was hastened by the development of aspirin, morphine, and then other opium-derived drugs, all of which helped to replace marijuana in the treatment of pain and other medical conditions in Western medicine."

The Past

1936

Reefer Madness Film Cautions Against Marijuana

"Reefer Madness is a morality tale of how Reefer Addiction ruins the life of its young protagonist and gets a lot of other people killed, sexually compromised and committed to lunatic asylums...

Reefer Madness began its cinematic life as a 1936 cautionary film entitled Tell Your Children. It was financed by a small church group, and was intended to scare the living bejeezus out of every parent who viewed it. Soon after the film was shot, however, it was purchased by the notorious exploitation film maestro Dwain Esper (Narcotic, Marihuana, Maniac), who took the liberty of cutting in salacious insert shots and slapping on the sexier title of Reefer Madness, before distributing it on the exploitation circuit...

The Past

1937

American Medical Association Opposes the Proposed Marihuana Tax Act and Supports Research on Medical Cannabis

"Hearings on the proposed taxation of marihuana were held before the Committee on Ways and Means between 27 April and 4 May 1937. The last witness to be heard was Dr. William C. Woodward, legislative counsel of the American Medical Association (AMA). He announced his opposition to the bill... [and] sought to dispel any impression that either the AMA or enlightened medical opinion sponsored this legislation. Marihuana, he argued, was largely an unknown quantity, but might have important uses in medicine and psychology."

The Past

1937

“Marihuana Tax Act" Leads to Decline in Marijuana Prescriptions

"By the time the federal government passed the Marihuana Tax Act in [Oct.] 1937, every state had already enacted laws criminalizing the possession and sale of marijuana. The federal law, which was structured in a fashion similar to the 1914 Harrison Act, maintained the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes but required physicians and pharmacists who prescribed or dispensed marijuana to register with federal authorities and pay an annual tax or license fee...

After the passage of the Act, prescriptions of marijuana declined because doctors generally decided it was easier not to prescribe marijuana than to deal with the extra work imposed by the new law."

On Oct. 5, Caldwell went into the history trivia books as the first marijuana seller convicted under U.S. federal law. His customer, Baca, was found guilty of possession... Caldwell was sentenced to four years of hard labour in Leavenworth Penitentiary, plus a $1,000 fine. Baca received 18 months incarceration. Both men served every day of their sentence. A year after Caldwell was released from prison, he died."

The Past

October 2, 2014

First Annual Samuel R. Caldwell Memorial Party

Always 420 Mile High will sponsor and host a Celebration in Denver to honor the first person to be convicted of Federal charges who outlived unjust punishment given by the Crazed Prohibition Movement that has costs more lives and resources than any War in History.

The Past

1938

Canada Prohibits Cannabis Cultivation

"In 1938, Canada prohibited cannabis cultivation. The aim there was... to prevent the leisure use of marijuana. Doctors were still permitted to prescribe tincture of cannabis, but the bureaucracy that came with every prescription discouraged many from offering it to patients."

1942

Marijuana Removed from US Pharmacopeia

“Marijuana was removed from the US Pharmacopeia in 1942, thus losing its remaining mantle of therapeutic legitimacy." many from offering it to patients."

In 1938, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia requests that the New York Academy of Medicine conduct an investigation of marijuana. The 1944 report, titled "The Marihuana Problem in the City of New York," but commonly referred to as the "LaGuardia Report," concludes that many claims about the dangers of marijuana are exaggerated or untrue.Roger A. Roffman, DSWRobert S. Stephens, PhDCannabis Dependence: Its Nature, Consequences, and Treatment, 2006

"The practice of smoking marihuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word... The use of marihuana does not lead to morphine or heroin or cocaine addiction and no effort is made to create a market for these narcotics by stimulating the practice of marihuana smoking... Marihuana is not the determining factor in the commission of major crimes... The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking in New York City is unfounded."

The Past

1951

Boggs Act Establishes Minimum Prison Sentences for Simple Possession

"In 1951, Congress established mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug crimes. Named for its sponsor, Representative Hale Boggs (D-La.), the Boggs Act imposed two-to-five year minimum sentences for first offenses, including simple possession. The Act made no distinction between drug users and drug traffickers for purposes of sentencing.

The driving force behind the Boggs Act was a mistaken belief that drug addiction was a contagious and perhaps incurable disease and that addicts should be quarantined and forced to undergo treatment."

The Past

1956

Inclusion of Marijuana in Narcotics Control Act Leads to Stricter Penalties for Marijuana Possession

Congress includes marijuana in the Narcotics Control Act of 1956, which results in stricter mandatory sentences for marijuana-related offenses. A first-offense marijuana possession carries a minimum sentence of 2-10 years with a fine of up to $20,000. perhaps incurable disease and that addicts should be quarantined and forced to undergo treatment."

The 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs establishes the following rule in Article 49: "The use of cannabis for other than medical and scientific purposes must be discontinued as soon as possible but in any case within twenty-five years...

The Past

1964

THC, Main Psychoactive Component of Cannabis, First Identified and Synthesized

In 1964 Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the first to identify delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as the main psychoactive component of cannabis. He is also the first to synthesize THC.

The Past

1968

University of Mississippi Becomes Official Grower of Marijuana for Federal Government

"Since about 1968 the University of Mississippi has held a registration from the DEA or its predecessor agency to cultivate marijuana for government use and research activities... [as] the only DEA-registered cultivator of marijuana. The University of Mississippi... supplies marijuana to researchers for studies ranging from chemical research to preclinical toxicology in animals to clinical work on humans."

Marijuana grown at the University of Mississippi for the US government.

The Past

1968

President Johnson Creates Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs

"The dramatic increase in the use of marihuana and other drugs during the latter 1960's was a matter of high public visibility. In response, President Johnson offered Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1968. This reorganization was effective on April 8, 1968 and placed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (of Treasury) and the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (of FDA) in the Department of Justice and designated it the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs."

UK Wootton Report Finds Cannabis Is Less Dangerous Than Alcohol, Other Drugs

The Nov. 1, 1968 Wootton Report, written by the UK government's Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence, finds that "the long term consumption of cannabis in moderate doses has no harmful effects... Cannabis is less dangerous than the opiates, amphetamines and barbiturates, and also less dangerous than alcohol..."

The report's influence is seen in future British drug policies that reduce penalties for possession of marijuana by 50%

Congress passes the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (750 KB) as part of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. This law establishes a "singles system of control for both narcotic and psychotropic drugs for the first time in US history." The CSA creates five schedules to classify substances. Marijuana is placed in Schedule I, which are drugs "classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision."

[Those studies" were concluded in the 1972 Schafer Commission report, which recommended removing marijuana from the scheduling system and decriminalizing it. President Nixon rejected their recommendation.]

"The Congress asked the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for their recommendation where marijuana should be placed in the Controlled Substances Act.

The response, by letter of 8/14/70, of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs [Roger O. Egeberg] is as follows:

'...Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces "severe psychological or physical dependence" as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marihuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue. If those studies* make it appropriate for the Attorney General to change the placement of marihuana to a different schedule, he may do so in accordance with the authority provided under section 201 of the bill..'"

The Past

1970

NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Founded

NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is founded in 1970 as a nonprofit public-interest advocacy group whose mission is to end marijuana prohibition.

The Past

1971

UK Introduces Drug Classification System

The 1971 UK Misuse of Drugs Act introduces a drug classification system and sentencing guidelines. Cannabis is put in Class B, the middle of three classes.

Nixon Says He Will Not Legalize Marijuana Despite Shafer Commission

In a televised news conference on May 1, 1971, responding to question about the White House Conference on Youth, which had voted to legalize marijuana, President Nixon said: "As you know, there is a Commission that is supposed to make recommendations to me about this subject; in this instance, however, I have such strong views that I will express them. I am against legalizing marijuana. Even if the Commission does recommend that it be legalized, I will not follow that recommendation... I can see no social or moral justification whatever for legalizing marijuana. I think it would be exactly the wrong step. It would simply encourage more and more of our young people to start down the long, dismal road that leads to hard drugs and eventually self-destruction."

The Past

1971

Introducing the Coolest Double Agent Ever

President Nixon had a meeting with Elvis Presley, who sought to be appointed as a Federal Agent-at-Large in the US Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, in 1970.

The Past

1971

Tricky Dick Nixon Starts The War on Drugs as the Vietnam Campaign Fails

The Past

He Also Tried To Deport John Lennon

1971

“I have asked the Congress to provide the legislative authority and the funds to fuel this kind of an offensive. This will be a worldwide offensive dealing with the problems of sources of supply, as well as Americans who may be stationed abroad, wherever they are in the world...

I have brought Dr. [Jerome H.] Jaffe into the White House, directly reporting to me [as Special Consultant to the President for Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs], so that we have not only the responsibility but the authority to see that we wage this offensive effectively and in a coordinated way.

“

The Past

1972

NORML Petitions DEA to Reschedule Marijuana

In 1972, NORML files an administrative petition with the DEA. "NORML's petition called on the federal government to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule II drug so that physicians could legally prescribe it. Federal authorities initially refused to accept the petition until mandated to do so by the US Court of Appeals in 1974, and then refused to properly process it until again ordered by the Court in 1982...Fourteen years after NORML's initial petition, in 1986, the DEA finally held public hearings on the issue before an administrative law judge. Two years later [on Sep. 6, 1988], Judge Francis Young ruled [in the matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition, Docket No. 86-22] that the therapeutic use of marijuana was recognized by a respected minority of the medical community, and that it met the standards of other legal medications."The final ruling in the case was made Feb. 18, 1994.

The Past

1973

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Established

The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNND) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) are merged to form the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

The Past

1974

NIDA Established, Placed in Charge of Contracts to Grow Marijuana for Research Purposes

Since its inception in 1974, NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] has been the sole administrator of a contract to grow cannabis (marijuana) for research purposes and the only legal source for cannabis in the United States...Because of international treaty agreements (Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961) which prohibit entities other than the Federal Government from legally supplying cannabis, NIDA has remained its only legal source..."

The University of Mississippi is contracted by NIDA to grow either 1.5 or 6.5 acres of cannabis, or to not grow any at all, depending on research demand. The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) has a contract to manufacture and distribute cannabis cigarettes (joints).

The Past

1974

High Times is a New York based monthly magazine founded in 1974 byTom Forcade. The publication is devoted to, and advocates the legalization of cannabis. It is the largest cannabis-related magazine in the world.[citation needed] In 2008 High Times launched a digital edition of the magazine and in early 2010 began publishing the quarterly Medical Marijuana News & Reviews.